Tuesday, June 19, 2012

The Importance of Book Clubs *Updated

    Tonight I went to my first book club meeting. Needless to say, it totally rocked. Now that I'm home basking in the glow of a well spent evening I'm wondering why I haven't joined or started a book club earlier? The only down side is that until tonight I considered myself a well-read person..boy was I far off! I've gotten into this niche of reading YA novels because my WIP is YA and I had few adult books come to mind when we went around with suggestions. (I was pleased when someone said "The Book Thief because seriously, that book transcends categorization. READ IT.).
   Anyway, my point of this post is that it was such a well spent night discussing literature, hearing others' insights of how the book applied to their lives and feeling like I was actually gaining something from the conversation that I had to come home and write about it and urge you to get involved. If you like books AT ALL.
    The highlight was good conversation. It is something that has become so rare in my life. There are few girlfriends I can talk to where the conversation doesn't revolve around shopping, something on Pinterest, yet another _______ (insert with: personal work-out schedule, cleaning schedule, kids' schedule etc). It's fine to talk about those things but lately I've been craving the kinds of conversation where I leave with more than I came with. It also helped that most of the other attendees were older than me, I love any situation where I can gather up bits of wisdom since they are so much wiser than I.

 So..if you're lonely or feeling like all anyone cares about is Jersey Shore and the latest hyped whatever this might be the outlet you need..

**Update: Today I saw on Fantasy-Faction a NEW Sci-Fi book club! Right on the heels of my post last night...I'll admit, I love a wide spectrum of genres but I've never really gotten into Sci-fi. But this book was chosen by readers who know their Sci-Fi so I feel confident it's got to be pretty good. Fantasy-Faction also has a fantasy book club @ 1 book per month. I discovered their site not too long ago and have really enjoyed their articles and author interviews. They have an anthology coming out and there is a contest for your work to be included. So if you're looking for a way to get your footprint out there in the writing world... check it out here!**

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